Clashes between security personnel and suspected militants, who were entrenched in a residential home near Ben Guerdane, resulted in the deaths of two militants and several injuries including several civilians and a member of the National Guard on Saturday, March 19.

National Guard units, with support from the army, exchanged fire with the militants in the El Amria neighborhood in the outskirts of Ben Guerdane. Local media reports citing security sources and eyewitness indicate that during the standoff one of the militants detonated an explosive device within the home.

A joint statement from the Ministry of the Interior and Defense added that three civilians and an officer from the National Guard were wounded by shrapnel and transported to the Ben Guerdane regional hospital for treatment.

Local media citing medical sources are reporting the injuries are being described as non-life threatening.

Five days before the attack on Ben Guerdane, El Amria was the scene of fighting in which a civilian and five presumed terrorist were killed in clashes on Wednesday, March 2, after three SUV’s containing ten militants entered Tunisia from Libya. An army colonel was wounded in the incident.

Forty nine suspected terrorists believed to have been involved in the attack on Ben Guerdane have been killed and nine arrested since at dawn on Monday, March 7 several dozen militants simultaneously attacked security installations and personnel in central Ben Guerdane resulting in nearly sixty deaths, including thirteen security personnel and seven civilians.